Burnley vs. West Ham United

Clarets Aim to Nail the Hammers

However you define a 'must-win` game our clash against West Ham at Turf Moor this Saturday must surely fall under that category. This is a vital six-pointer no matter how you look at this match with Burnley second from bottom just one point behind the 15th placed Hammers. A victory on Saturday could propel us out of the relegation zone and as high as 14th spot. That would restore some confidence after no win now in 12 League games and it would also give our new manager, Brian Laws his first victory at the club after losing four out of four so far. Laws must be wondering what he has to do to get back to winning ways. If you take into account the results he had at Sheffield Wednesday before being sacked he has not won a match as a manager in the last 13 attempts!

It seems at the moment that every team in the relegation dogfight have had their little run with Burnley the one to suffer. We have lost seven of the last twelve league games but we have also had some creditable draws against Aston Villa, Fulham and Arsenal at Turf Moor not to mention our only point on the road so far against Manchester City. Nobody can really complain either about our performances away to Manchester United or at home to Chelsea last Saturday despite coming away with no points. We have to remain positive and hope we can string a few wins together. In the next few weeks we play a number of the struggling teams at Turf Moor and it is vital we get maximum points from these games starting on Saturday against the Hammers.

Predicted Team Sheet

Brian Laws has just two players sidelined for this clash. Steven Caldwell is still out with a persistent groin strain and Graham Alexander is still suffering with the calf injury that saw him substituted in our match against Bolton at the Reebok. Chris McCann though who was also substituted in the Bolton game has also been back in training and looks to be in contention for the Hammers match.

Kevin McDonald picked up a knock in our last match against Chelsea on Saturday but is understood to have recovered along with left back Christian Kalvenes who also limped off last Saturday. Stephen Jordan who picked up a hamstring injury in training before the Saturday FA Cup game against Reading two weeks ago is also believed to be in contention giving Laws a bit of a dilemma for the left back spot. It is likely that both Jordan and Kalvenes could be sidelined with new signing Danny Fox given his debut at left-back. Fox had been out for a couple of weeks with injury whilst at Celtic but is now believed to have recovered from his slight groin strain.

Another new signing who could make his Clarets debut is midfielder, Jack Cork. The 20 year old signed on loan from Chelsea on Monday`s transfer deadline day; the same day it was confirmed that David Nugent`s loan from Portsmouth had also been extended to the end of the season,

It will be interesting to see what formation Laws decides to go with against the Hammers. West Ham are likely to come at us knowing their style. Their emphasis will be on attack if their new signings in the transfer window are anything to go by although in recent games goal scoring has been their problem. Laws may take the view to play just one up front with a greater chance then of soaking up the pressure from West Ham in defence and midfield and catching them out on the break. If we play with just one up front that is likely to be Fletcher. If we decide on a strike pair, Nugent would now appear to be the obvious choice although Paterson might have something to say about that.

I think the best tactic would be to start off playing 4-5-1 and then revert to a 4-4-2 and replace one of the midfielders with Nugent if we need a Plan B

Burnley Team News:

Both Fox and Cork could make their debut for the Clarets. There are some rumours though that Fox might face a late fitness test. McDonald, Kalvenes, Jordan and McCann all seem to have recovered well from their injuries and knocks and could be in contention.

David Nugent has now returned from Portsmouth following their agreement to extend his loan until the end of the season. He missed the Chelsea game because of the indecision and Pompey`s tardiness but is now back in contention.

Player to watch: Danny Fox

All eyes will be on the new boy at left-back if he is selected ahead of both Jordan and Kalvenes. There is no getting away from the fact that left-back has been our main area of weakness this season with the opposition sensing that and punishing us with continual attacks down that flank. Fox will hopefully tighten up our defence and stem the flow.

West Ham United Team News:

It will certainly be interesting to see their line-up in attack. Carlton Cole has recovered from injury but has now been joined by three strikers signed in the January transfer window on deadline day. They completed the loan signings of strikers Mido from Middlesbrough and Brazilian Ilan from French club St Etienne.

The two deals followed the signing of another striker, Benni McCarthy from Blackburn Rovers earlier in the day.

West Ham now have nine strikers on their books!

The Hammers also have long-term injuries to Boa Morte (cruciate ligament), Zavon Hines (knee injury) and of course Calum Davenport who picked us serious leg injuries following an attack in his home.

Three players are also suffering from hamstring injuries and remain doubtful for the game at Turf Moor-Franco, Gabbidon and Dyer.

Player to watch: Carlton Cole

Cole picked up a knee injury in our match against the Hammers at Upton Park back in November. There were fears it would be a serious injury and keep him out for months but a scan revealed the extent of the injury was not as bad as first feared. Cole has now made a return to the side but has only been making appearances from the bench. He was scoring for fun before the injury. He had a strike rate of approximately one goal in every two matches and sadly for the Clarets he scored one against us from the spot in our 5-3 away defeat before he picked up his injury in the same match.

Zola though might be tempted to try one or more of his new signings up front in the starting eleven with Cole once more on the bench. I have a feeling though we might be seeing Cole play at some point in the game if not the full 90 minutes.

Back to the Future

Our last game against the Hammers was a very strange affair indeed. In our match against West Ham at Upton Park in November we put them under significant pressure for the first 20 minutes or so of the game and then went to sleep; so much so in fact that by the 64th minute we found ourselves 5-0 down and fearing the worst. We then found our earlier form and went on the rampage somehow scoring three goals in the last 25 minutes of the match. Fletcher got a brace scoring after 68 and 74 minutes with Eagles getting the third deep into added time. If the game could have been played for another quarter of an hour, we may well have pulled the game round such was our dominance at this point but we should never have let them get five goals ahead in the first place.

The last time we played West Ham at home was in their promotion season of 2004-5. We went down 1-0 at Turf Moor on the night of Tuesday 5th April 2005 giving West Ham the double over us that season after they beat us by the same score at the Boleyn Ground back in August 2004.

In the 1975-76 season, the last time we were in the top flight, we unluckily went down 3-2 at Upton Park in August 1975 but got revenge by beating them 2-0 in the return match at Turf Moor just before Christmas 1975. You can read more about these battles in our 'Back to the Future` series on Vital Burnley. The games against the Hammers were covered in the article Back to the Future 3 (If We Had the Hammers) which you can find by clicking this link:

Ref Watch:

Kent referee, Steve Bennett will be in charge of this one. Let`s hope we don`t have to start calling him Gordon again! He has been in charge of just one of our league games this season and that was our first match in the top flight for 33 years in the season opener at the Britannia against Stoke City.

Match Prediction:

West Ham have won just one away game all season and that was the opener against Wolves back in August last year. They are undefeated in their last three games but these have all been draws. They may have defeated the Clarets 5-3 on their home soil back in November but since that time they have only won once against bottom club Portsmouth in their Boxing Day clash.
This has to be a win for the Clarets or we really are going to be low on confidence which is not good when you are already second from bottom. We have to play West Ham as though they are one of the Big Three and turn in a performance that matches Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea at home.
If we do that we should be far too strong for the Hammers. I actually think we are going to have a cracking day and get a thumping win something like 4-1. These clashes always tend to be high-scoring and we have a score to settle after the 5-3 defeat at their place this season

Next Match

We face a tricky visit to Craven Cottage next Tuesday night (9th February @8pm Kick-Off). Fulham have not been on such good form of late though although they did beat Portsmouth at home in midweek. They will face Bolton at the Reebok this Saturday so we shall see if their form continues to improve. They are currently 10th with ten points more than the Clarets.

If that was not hard enough we continue our travels on the Sunday with a trip to Villa Park. Aston Villa are currently riding high in 7th spot and are challenging for a top four finish. Please note that this match is not only on a Sunday but kicks off early at 2pm.

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A must win match, and those numerous chances we always create have got to go in on Saturday. Let's get behind them and raise the roofs off the stands. This is fortress Turf Moor and now is our time to start winning again.

I'd prefer to look at this over two games as for some reason I think there might be something for us away at Fulham. For this reason, this is a must not lose match for me as we cannot afford West Ham to pull four points clear of us.
That said, I think we'll win anyway so long as we learn to track our opponents back like we didn't last week!

The most important game yet. I am absolutely certain the fans will "raise the roof" and be an enormous help to the team. We have a great chance of a thundering win, just leave the nerves in the dressing room. I agree 4 - 1 with a conselation injury time goaql for the Hammers

You are right TMP, we desperately need to win this one and I've got a funny feeling that we will (3-1). I agree with your team too except for McCann, I would give him longer to nrecover from the knock as he is injury prone and we can't afford to have him go down early in the first half again. Would start with McDonald. Bikey has got to do much better too - when teams are counter attacking he continually loses his man and ball watches. His poor marking has been responsible for many goals this season - the first goal by Chelsea last week a good example. Elliott needs to move the ball quicker and not lose possession so much. The team looks good though and is much strengthened by the new signings. I'm sure we will hammer the Hammers and all in Oz will be watching (live at 11pm in Perth). C'mon you Clarets!!!

Getting nervous about this game now butterflies in the tummy. Sat at work wishing it was 2:30 so my shift was over and I am heading to Turf Moor. Roll on then, as got nearly all my work done and now just getting more and more nervous.

Talk about heart attacks! It's 2am here in Perth but too wired to go to sleep. Great debut by Fox - a natural left footed player, what a find. Mears good again but midfield still a problem - McDonald does not impose himself enough and the ball is given up too easily. Anyway 3 brilliant points and we are now above Susan's Notlob. I think Laws has bought well. Now we can go to Fulham with a bit of confidence.
Up the Clarets!

Ozjean! First Jet LAg now Burnley Lag! Us NSW types can never decide if its best to go to bed then get up then go back to bed. Stay up watch the game then bed or just get up very early and stay up. Depends on the result a lose or draw means that you can get back to sleep but a win makes it hard. I'm warming to Laws and Susan had another bad day.

I know the feeling AndyHo - the night games are like that for us in Perth. Tuesday against Fulham will be a 4am kick-off. At least Foxtel showed us live (unlike the Man u game!) as the red button had been 'suspended' for 5 weeks because of the coverage of the winter Olympics - which no-one is interested in (bloody ice-skating!). Heathfield claret, there are lots of Aussie Burnley fans. Even got an Aussie taxi driver the other day who is a fanatical supporter and goes to the Turf every year. He chose to support Burnley years ago because he lived in the suburb of Burnley in Victoria! Where are you from Aussie Claret?

At least you get it live in Aus, regardless of the time of day. Not even the link on Iraqgoals was successful here. Maybe I should move down under (I wonder if I'll have to pay royalties to some Aussie teacher for that last comment!!!)

good win, luck whent our way today Introduce Cork lad intomidfield. we need to hold it thereif we had done that more today our winning margin would have beeen greater.
I feel fulham are on a poor run lets capatalise on thet on tue

Was Burnley, Victoria founded by someone from Burnley, Lancs? Anyway, back to fotball. Good to see we've got a manager who is clever enough to rotate his squad: Blake back in, Eagles rested. After what he did to them at Upton Park, Zola's pre-match coaching was probably focused on stopping Chris! And by the time they'd sorted a Plan B we were 1 up! Cort looks the business as much as Fox, and Edgar is out of whatever pigeon-hole he'd been put into for no apparent reason. All of which must be giving the squad a new outlook on life. Looking forward to seeing what Cork can add.

Absolutely buzzing, and an bothered I am in work this Sunday morning. Anyone at the game know why 5 mins into the game they announced for the WH team coach driver to return to his vehicle and then about 10 mins later all WH supporters coach drivers had to return to their coaches.

Due to fate conspiring against me, I missed this game. However from what I have read and seen we played well. Cort looks a cracking signing and Fox looked good too. I have got to say, why didn't Susan play Edgar! Brian Laws looks like he's doing good to me!

Really enjoyed the match and was impressed with Cort and Fox. Carlisle had a brilliant game as well, as did Nugent. I was sat directly in line with the trajectory of the free kick and as I was looking to see who was coming in on it, I realised it was going in, and there it was in the back of the net. What a goal and what a debut. I would have liked to see us closing them down quicker at times, and Bikey who had a cracking game, could have 'had a go' on a couple of occasions just outside the box but did'nt for some reason. But apart from that , a pleasing performance and it's good to get that winning feeling again. Eagles in for Wade on Tuesday I think, and I've got a feeling about this one .

Please note the Editorial comments and opinions on this site are the personal views of the Editor and should not be construed in any way to be representative of those of other Clarets organisations of which he belongs e.g. Clarets Trust. This applies to both the front page articles and posts in any of the forums.

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